Researchers have confirmed that male chimpanzees who share meat with females mate twice as often as those who prefer to keep their food to themselves.
These "meat for sex" deals, observed among chimps in Ivory Coast by Dr Cristina Gomes and colleagues from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, are significant …

COMMENTS

Interesting...

At least it's clear here - the females get more food. I was often wondering what evolutionary advantage our homo sapiens females get when they seem to prefer stuff like diamond rings and sapphire earrings...

The title of the article is a bit misleading - "male chimps strike meat for sex deals" - this sounds a bit like they strike these deals among themselves while the poor females end up with no sex and no meat.

Re: this entire thread and all who sail in it

Bandwagon Alert!

This is good stuff, a bit unsurprising, but great to have it witnessed in the field. But what's going on with this further study nonsense?

'Dr Gomes suggested the findings might offer insights into human evolution. The team's report specifies: "Similar studies on humans will determine if the direct nutritional benefits that women receive from hunters in foraging societies could also be driving the relationship between reproductive success and good hunting skills."'

What??? Read Alfonso's lament, his school friend already knew the answer when he was at school! Work out more about how human the monkeys are please, not how monkeyish we are - I'm satisfied that we evolved FROM them, give or take a gorilla.

I have the opposite problem

Sausauge Time

@Coleman

That something occurs in the animal kingdom isn't necessarily a great argument for legalisation - unless of course you want cannibalism, incest, and eating the bloke over the road's offspring legalised too..

Re: may I be the first....

Home Office Press Release

Jacqui Smith today announced that the Government will be introducing new legislation to prosecute male chips who offer meat to female chimps without first ensuring that the female chimp is not under the control of another male chimp...

(untitled)

Seems it's probably just normal practice to me. Those in a relationship or ten have good reason to work at them, so share what they get. The lonely and rejected souls get to keep what food and stuff they get, for themselves, having learnt that being generous can lead to just being taken advantage of.

@Sarah Bee

bullshit

What's to say that the chimps didn;t have a relationship previously which endeared a partnership which in turn encouraged the sharing of food? you know, like i do with my missis... utterly disgraced with the way scientific research is going these days.

1. think of ridiculous theory

2. find way of observing results to fit your theory

3. write paper of your findings leting everyone know just how much better you have made the world thanks to your awe inspiring jeeneyus

More like marriage...

Huh?

The only difference between Marriage and Prostitution is the duration of the arrangement. Marriage always been about women swapping sex for financial security (ability to provide food for offspring)?

These days women can often provide for themselves (and their offspring), so we have started to see more women choosing to become single parents (simply because they can - I assume that because they no longer need a man to provide they no longer can be bothered putting out for guys they barely tolerate at the best of times).